High Council: Procedures, Questions and Devotions

ENSURING everything regarding the election of The Salvation Army’s nineteenth General follows correct procedure legally and ethically is part of the role of the 2011 High Council.

For much of the fourth day the council members closely evaluated recommendations regarding procedures that were formulated by the review committee of the sixteenth High Council in 2006.

The High Council diligently discussed and amended the recommendations as it devised the procedures pertaining to the election of the Army’s nineteenth General, a task that required full and focused attention to detail. When the procedures for this seventeenth High Council were formally adopted the council then elected tellers (vote counters) and Questions Committee members.

Late in the afternoon the High Council adjourned to allow time for the Questions Committee to develop potential questions for the future candidates and, if they are married, their spouses.

When the draft questions are completed the full High Council will assess them before approving a final list.

Earlier in the day Commissioner Vic Poke used Song 581 from The Song Book of The Salvation Army ('Here, Lord assembled in thy name, thy work to do, thy help we claim') and relevant Scripture, in the opening devotional period.

The commissioner gently and intentionally directed the council members through a series of short prayer times interspersed with the verses of the song.

As has been the practice, prayer also concluded the day. Today it was especially focused on the victims of a terrorist attack at one of the international airports in Moscow where more than 30 people were killed and a further 120 injured.

Territorial Commander for Eastern Europe Colonel Kenneth Johnson said that The Salvation Army in Moscow had informed the authorities it was willing to provide care at the attack scene.